Woolbeding Landscapes
This is a gentle circular walk taking in wildlife, riverside views, and wide open landscapes.
Map
Start:
Older Hill car park, grid ref: SU 8696 2603
1
Face the signboard, take the path to your right; cross a small track and follow beneath the line of pylons. Enjoy the views to your right, overlooking the South Downs. Continue over the brow of the hill and descend 100 metres to a place where paths meet.
2
From the track junction, go left, then the first right, which heads down the valley - you're in heathland here, a mixture of bell heather, ling, and dwarf gorse. Continue to the fork, go right and continue downhill until you reach where another path crosses the way. There's a small shady pond tucked away to your right.
3
Keep straight on down the valley, enjoying the views, until you see a track. Just before this track, turn right up a narrow path between trees, and follow this path, which at the end bears left to rejoin the vehicle track to cross the lane.
4
Look for the waymarker to your right, on the opposite side of the lane, then follow the footpath through the trees out into the open field. Continue along the hedgerow, then turn left at the style tucked away in the hedge and go downhill through the fields, going under the pylons and along the next field; at the bottom, turn right along Stedham Lane.
5
Within 50 metres, to your left you'll see a waymarker pointing to a steeply descending path beside ancient beech trees. Head down the path to the bottom, by the river, where you'll find Stedham Mill and Ford. Keep this side of the River Rother, turn left and follow the riverside path. Continue, passing over a small wooden bridge, until you pass through a wooden gate, into a field.
6
Before the end of the field, turn left at a wooden gate leading up into the woods. After a short climb, turn left and follow the woodland path. Continue past the steps to your left, which head back down to the river, and take the next right turn to the wooden gate. Cross the lane into the fields.
7
Go along the path with the hedgerow to your left, turning right when you reach the woods at the end of the field. Continue along the woodland edge. Go left, still by the woodland, and under the pylons. Turn right at the next field, then turn left and go up along the field edge towards Keeper's Cottage - through the hedge to your right you can glimpse Eastshaw Lane. Follow the footpath around the cottage, continue up the field, and at the gap in the hedge turn right up Eastshaw Lane. Continue up the lane onto Woolbeding Common.
Looking back towards the woods
8
Continue straight up along the footpath through the birch, bracken, and heather of the common for a kilometer; just before a small car park, take the left turn downhill, then take the first footpath to your right through the heathland. Follow the path up across the open heath and into the woods. Once in the woods, continue till you meet a track; turn left downhill for a little further until a waymarked narrow footpath on your right leading you down through the trees back to your starting point.
End:
Older Hill car park, grid ref: SU 8696 2603
